Home Is Where?

Today was a rough day. Everyone seems to be dragging a bit and a lot more edgy. And over the last week the one conversation that has not gone away has involved loneliness. We are all missing home; that is a universal feeling and does not seem to be affected by age or nationality. Now that is November there are little reminders of what is happening in the rest of the world: pictures are posted everywhere from Halloween or Fall Festivals. And Thanksgiving is on everyone's mind. The Canadians recently celebrated theirs and Liberia's Thanksgiving was last Friday. As a crew we do not celebrate any national holidays to avoid leaving people out. So whenever there is a national holiday that group often gets together for some food and fun. But it's also a sad reminder that we are not spending that time with people we love.

This Thursday we are celebrating International Thanksgiving Day. It is a way for everyone to give thanks but it is just not the same. We Americans are planning to celebrate this fourth Thursday in November. Since we make up the largest percentage of the crew and Community Meetings are on Thursdays we will be having dessert afterwards - apple and pumpkin pies! But as I said it is just not the same.

Being lonely is something you never really get use to and have to constantly battle. It can suck you into a funk and really make you depressed. But it is also a normal part of being away from friends and family. So as the holiday season begins I will cling closer to those around me, who are also feeling lonely. We will create our own little odd family to celebrate Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. But know that I love and miss you all...

A Lesson on Frog Etiquette

So I had a very interesting adventure this weekend! We were driving to Fatima Orphanage and Vern asked me to video tape for him since he was driving and I was sitting in the front seat. So here I am behind the camera giving a tour of Liberia and narrating as much as possible. There is one part of our drive that goes over a bridge and at the end of the bridge there is a man who has frogs and sometimes fish tied to a pole. The frogs dangle upside down from a string tied to their leg and every once in awhile the man will throw water on them and they all bounce around. (It really is crazy to see but we all look forward to seeing the frog man).

Well this day we decided to slow down once we crossed the bridge so I could get a nice shot of the frog man. We end up having to stop because of traffic so I am videoing the frogs bouncing around and then insanity breaks out! The frog guy jumps in front of his pole and starts screaming "no pictures, no video". And one of the guys next to him stands up and starts screaming the same thing. This guy actually starts shooing at us as he continues to scream. By now I am screaming at Vern to keep driving, he is screaming that he can't because traffic has not cleared and everyone else in the truck are either joining in with their own shouts or laughing at the craziness. Then the unthinkable happens - the guy who was shooing at us has actually approached the car, still shooing and screaming, and by now I am slightly panicked and am trying to lean away from the open window. And this man reaches into the truck and hits me! He actually hit me...I was hit by a Liberian man!

Now I am screaming for a whole new reason! Vern and everyone in our truck is screaming in shock and traffic finally clears. We drive away from frog man and his hitting friend and I announce that I do not want to video tape any more. It was a very wild start to my Saturday morning but we all learned a lesson from it: Do not videotape frog man's frogs! Now I am on the hunt to find out why.